There's a number of basic rules in politics – don't make mistakes, and don't fight needless fights. Labour needs to heed both.

Phil Goff knows what Graham Henry is feeling.Labour is playing politics the way the All Blacks played the Springboks in Bloemfontein. They are trailing by some margin and getting desperate, forcing the

John Key was anywhere but New North Rd on Saturday. For National's leader, Melissa Lee's post-by-election wake in the heart of Mt Albert held all the attraction of a swine flu support group

So John Key had a long-standing holiday commitment that prevented him from attending Melissa Lee’s defeat party.When he personally selected the by-election date back in April (when he harboured sweaty dreams of glorious victory, giving those miserable feckless Labourites anoth

Don Brash might dream that Helen Clark hacked his computer, leaked the contents to Nicky Hager, forced the High Court to allow his book to be published, and then oversaw the police investigation which kept her role secret. The truth is more prosaic

If there was ever such a thing, the Labour Party’s police wing would not be very large.And when you think of policemen-turned-MPs (Chester Borrows, Ross Meurant, Rana Waitai, Peter Hilt, Clem Simich, Judith Collins [in her dreams], et al), there’s not been many joining Labour’

Austere, tough, and cockroach-like in her ability to survive political fallout, yet in her 28-year Parliamentary career Helen Clark inspired a legion of loyal staffers

I’m not the right person to assess Helen Clark’s status in the pantheon of New Zealand politicians. My view is that her ranking will be stellar but the professional political historians will make more judicious and detached considerations in the decades to come.